Trip to the Frank Kanton by Alexander Spack in May 2009

166. Frank

Old German building in Frank (also called Medveditza).

The Volga German colony of Frank was founded in 1767. In 1913 it had 614 households and 4592 residents; it also had its own church building (Lutheran). During the Tzars' reign the village's official Russian name was Medveditzkiy Krestovoy Buyerak; back then Frank used to be the district center of the Medveditzkaya Volost (district). After the Autonomous Republic of the Volga Germans was established, the village was officially called by its German name of Frank. Until 1928 the village was the county center of the Frank Kanton. By the start of WWII there were some 850 households and about 5,400 residents in the village. After the deportation of the local Germans in 1941 the settlement's official name was changed to Medveditza. Today there are about 2,800 people living here. There is a paved road connecting Frank and the county town of Zhirnovsk and also a bridge across the Medveditza River just downhill from the Central Square downtown Frank.

The two-storey red brick building in the photograph used to be a school, later a college; after the WWII it was used a school building again, and is currently housing the local kindergarden.

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